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woman: a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" n washington and this is bbc world news america. russia launches one of its biggest air attacks on ukraine since the start of the war, leaving six people dead and parts of the country in the dark. the united nations temporarily suspends aid operations in gaza after israel issues a new

evacuation order and the strip. the bbc gets exclusive access to treatment centers in the democratic republic of the congo, where the mpox disease is most rampant. welcome to world news america. the head of the ukrainian air force says russia launched its biggest air attack yet. he said on monday that ukraine downed more than 100 roads moscow fired in addition to blocking more than 100 missiles. six people were killed in the strikes, which hit 15 separate regions of ukraine. russia confirmed it used high position weapons to target key infrastructure, leading to power and water shortages. the wave of overnight strikes comes weeks after a successful incursion of ukrainian troops deep into russian territory in the cursed region. the lenski described the scale of the recent strikes in his daily address.

>> [translated] this is one of the largest strikes, a combined one. more than 100 missiles of various types and about 100 drones. like most previous russian strikes, this one is just as vital, targeting critical civilian infrastructure in most of our regions, from kyiv to odessa and western regions. unfortunately there are casualties. sumi: president zelenskyy says the strikes show that kyiv and its allies should draw up an air defense agreement to ensure missiles can be shot down. ukraine has not formally retaliated but on monday president zelenskyy called on western allies to allow ukraine to use their weapons to strike deeper inside russia. we can talk about all of this with my guest, ambassador bill taylor, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine. let's start with this wave of strikes. how damaging were these two

ukrainian critical infrastructure? >> this is a continuation of the damage that russia has inflicted on the ukrainians. the ukrainians probably have lost half of their electrical generation capacity. electoral generation of course is important for electricity in homes and businesses, but it also affects water, for example. if you are living in a high-rise apartment, the water pumps are run by electricity, so you have to walk down 20 stories, because it also runs the elevators, and walked down to get water and carry it back out. it's really damaging. sumi: in addition to the real impact you are describing, do you think this is moscow also trying to retake the narrative? ukraine has had success getting

into russian territory, taking them by surprise. amb. taylor: the russians do want to try to regain the narrative because the ukrainians have it now. the ukrainians had to make something happen. you reported how the longtime grind over the last two years, that the russians have thrown soldiers at the ukrainians over and over. if that continued, that was not going to be how the ukrainians win. the ukrainians had to change something up, so they invaded into russia three weeks ago and had great success, which has had incredible effect on ukrainian morale, and russian morale too. they had to take the initiative back. sumi: do you think this tells us something about the shifting dynamics of this war? are we going to see a shift of the front lines to russian territory and also more to critical infrastructure? amb. taylor: ukrainians clearly

need air defense to defend critical infrastructure. both sides are tight on soldiers . the russians have already started pulling some of their soldiers out from the donbas region. they continue to fight in donbas. ukrainians are also using their best troops to go into kursk. they both have constraints but the ukrainians now have momentum and they have the morale and determination to make this change. sumi: we have seen president zelenskyy calling on countries to allow ukraine to use western weapons deeper into russian territory. we also saw the ukrainian foreign minister calling on ukraine's neighbors to shoot down missiles flying inside ukraine near their borders. what that not amount to western countries entering this war? amb. taylor: the first part,

clearly not. if the ukrainians had the authority and approval from the americans, brits, and others to use the weapon they have already gotten from us deep into russia, that's not a change. that is ukrainians using the weapons they have against military targets deep into russia. i suspect that will happen. i suspect that decision will eventually be made by the americans and the british and the germans and french. because we have already started that. we have already allowed ukrainians to shoot into russian territory, just not as deep. every decision has taken some time, that decision will come. when you ask about the second part, using aircraft to shoot down missiles and drones coming in, and we have seen that's possible in the middle east. we have supported the israelis when they shot down a lot of the attacks, so we know it is possible. but that would be a change.

that would be nato pilots, american pilots actually shooting themselves, pulling the trigger themselves, against the russians. sumi: possibly a dangerous escalation? amb. taylor: there has been a lot of talk about escalation. the russians have escalated as much as they can, as much as they are going to. they don't have anything else conventional to throw against the ukrainians. they are constrained already. they have been battling the nuclear sabr for a long time with no effect. sumi: always good to get your perspective, thank you for joining us. the united nations is halting aid operations in gaza following a new israeli evacuation order. a senior u.n. official says staff will remain on the ground and is being directed to find a way to keep operating. it comes as israel issues fresh evacuation orders for the central gaza strip, saying its forces planned to take action against hamas. spokespeople from one of the key

united nations aid groups held a briefing about the deteriorating situation there. >> the space that people have been confined to is so minimal. there are tanks in areas that used to be designated as safe areas. it is just another testament to being nowhere safe in the gaza strip. there is nowhere to go, nowhere to find safety, limited access to humanitarian resources because the humanitarian operations are also being displaced within these evacuation orders. the humanitarian response is being completely strangled and limited our ability of what we can do. sumi: united nations secretary is voicing concern over a wider conflict in the middle east. antonio guterres called for an immediate end to fighting after israel and has left exchange their biggest round of cross-border strikes since the war began.

israeli jets hit dozens of sites across southern lebanon while hezbollah launched rockets and drones against israel. one israeli soldier and two hezbollah fighters were killed. we have the latest on the fallout. jon: after the dramatic escalation on sunday, things have quieted a bit. the israeli military says it has carried out some strikes on hezbollah targets in southern lebanon the last 24 hours, but the level of cross-border we saw in the early hours sunday morning seems to have quieted down. what are the main parties saying? hezbollah says that the first phase of its operation to retaliate for the killing of that senior hezbollah commander at the end of july, it says that first phase has now ended. for israel's part, benjamin netanyahu the israeli prime minister said last night that

this was just the beginning and that he wanted to change the game in the north, change the game in terms of the situation in the north of israel. you have tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border living close to the border area who have been displaced now for many, many months. there will be increased diplomacy this week to try and ensure that this doesn't flareup into something much more dangerous, and a lot of this is tied to the ongoing diplomacy to try to get a cease-fire deal in gaza. we have still got officials from qatar and collegiate working in cairo to try to progress with a cease-fire and hostage release deal for gaza between israel and hamas. to be honest, those talks don't seem to be going anywhere despite intense diplomatic pressure especially from the

united states. the u.s. has said that key to calming things down in the north , on israel's northern border with lebanon, is a cease-fire deal in gaza. that doesn't seem to be in the offing at the moment, so we just have to wait and see. israel and hezbollah say they don't want a full-scale war but both sides say they are ready for it. sumi: the u.s. says it is working to avoid an escalation of hostilities between israel and hezbollah. the pentagon press secretary major general said the u.s. was not involved in israel's strikes over the weekend and the pentagon is still assessing the threat of an attack on israeli soil. i spoke about these tensions with a retired colonel who served in the israeli defense forces. how significant an escalation do you think the fighting we witnessed over the weekend was? >> it was a tactical escalation. we are in a war of attrition.

what hezbollah wanted to do between saturday and sunday was a full-scale attack throughout israel into the area of tel aviv where i live and all over. by preempting, we stalled that. it was a tactical hike, but it isn't that the war is over. sumi: these sites that hezbollah targeted, although broad, were not critical infrastructure. do you think this was about sending a message? col. eisin: hezbollah is constantly trying to send a message. they are a terror organization. the psychological aspect is a major part. they want to show they have the intelligence, the capability to do what israel did to them at the end of july. israel openly stated that we killed the equivalent of the chief of staff of hezbollah, the terror organization, so they wanted to show they could do the same. everybody in israel knows that is an area where you have

military installations and using international satellite materials is not very advanced and they did not do what they said they were going to do. sumi: if you look at the response from both sides, what impact do you think this had? col. eisin: on the tactical level, this was a clear-cut win for israel. on the operational level, it showed hezbollah may want to do things but they don't have the capacity. when israel tries to preempt, we are very effective. just wish we could have done something like that on october 7. when it comes to the strategic level, i am still worried about the way this entire event is being framed, as if israel is the one that attacked lebanon, as if israel did something against lebanon. israel stopped a terrorist organization from firing hundreds of rockets and drones at israel, and the capabilities

that they have really disturbed me. a tactical win, war not over. sumi: hezbollah certainly has significant cap abilities. we saw the prime minister say this is not the end of the story. what could possible further targets be? what are your concerns? col. eisin: every single day, hezbollah has attacked now with drones, with missiles, with advanced antitank guided missiles in a variety of ways and doing so as we speak. i call it a war of attrition. it's a war, it's just every day in a small amount. everybody is more worried about capabilities that the islamic regime of iran have passed on to them. if it is air missiles they are constantly trying to down any kind of aerial target they can. doing a ground attack, everybody discounts it, but october 7,

look what happened. israel and lebanon share a 138 kilometer border and if they do a ground attack into the towns and villages that israel has, made the people leave, but if they plant a flag, that psychological warfare, these are things they could do. they could attack not just in israel but anywhere in the world. hezbollah has done that before in argentina and other places. sumi: hezbollah has said it is delaying a full-scale retaliation to wait to see if a cease-fire deal in the war in gaza is reached. so far no progress but i want to ask about the israeli side. there have been leaks to israeli media suggesting that defense chiefs have a differing opinion to netanyahu on the strategy going forward. how unusual is not to see what appears to be a bit of a split between the defense chiefs, the

idea, and benjamin netanyahu? col. eisin: col. eisin: there is nothing really good to say about the last 10 and a half months of this war starting from october 7. this coalition government, and in this case the defense minister and prime minister are at least from the same party and they have differences of opinion. if you broaden that to other members of the government, vast differences of opinion. they are from different parties. it doesn't make us feel comfortable and calm. having said that, i don't think the government is necessarily running the war in a bad way. i don't know that if we had different ministers, minister of defense or otherwise, that the war would be run otherwise. i'm talking about the tactical operational level but there is no question we feel it at the strategic level. i want to home in on one issue the fact that haslett has attacked israel for every single day from october 8 except when they decided not to, let's not

connect that the way hezbollah does to anything happening in the gaza strip. for me as an israeli that's part of the challenge, part of the reason we have such gaps. hezbollah attacks israel, calls for the destruction of israel. hezbollah calls this a war against jerusalem, not a word to help palestinians. we need to view them as they are, a horrific terror organization supported by the islamic regime of iran. i can see the differences of opinion in the israeli government but i don't want to compare them to something like has left. sumi: meanwhile people in gaza are facing increased threat of disease. unicef says it is taking more than one million doses of the polio vaccine into the strip. along with other u.n. agencies, it plans to vaccinate more than 645,000 palestinian children. officials found the first case of polio in gaza in 25 years in wastewater samples.

a health expert says polio is a waterborne disease directly linked to the sanitation situation. these images show how water on parts of gaza's main coastline have turned brown over the last couple of months. officials say low -- they displaced people are sending sewage into the sea. a dedicated task force is working to improve the sewage system in gaza. health workers in the democratic republic of congo say more than 70% of people are being treated for mcox at their clinics our children under 10. the bbc gained access to two treatment centers, the epicenter of the latest mpox outbreak. our reporter has this report filmed inside the drc for the bbc by a local camera operator. viewers may find some images distressing from the start. >> weary and in pain, a two-year-old caught mpox from

one of her five siblings who have all had the disease. >> [translated] this is the first time i have seen it. when my child got sick, their parents told me it might be measles, but we started treating measles and failed. reporter: this hospital is in the epicenter of this new mpox crisis. it has had 800 patients since june. more than 70% have been children. eight have died, all under the age of five. about 100 miles away, the spring in imani's step slowly returns after three days of free treatment at the center. like the hospital, three quarters of patients here have been under 10. health workers told the bbc they have had up to 10 new cases a day.

>> they are always playing together. they don't care about social distance. so they are always together. you can also see in the household, they even pass the night on the same bed. 3, 4, 5 children, so that means the transmission is present on a daily basis. reporter: these camps in the eastern part of the democratic republic of the congo are crammed with millions who have been displaced because of an ongoing armed conflict, the perfect place for mpox to run rampant. charity workers are trying to get ahead by teaching people about symptoms, stigma, and hygiene. sumi: we have more coverage of the mpox outbreak on bbc.com/news. former president donald trump paid a visit to arlington national cemetery to mark the

third anniversary of the kabul airport attack that left 13 u.s. service members dead. he laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. at a speech later, he paid tribute to the fallen before placing blame on the current administration for their deaths. mr. trump: caused by kamala harris, joe biden, the humiliation in afghanistan set off the collapse of american credibility and respect around the world. sumi: vice president harris released a statement saying in part, these 13 devoted patriots represent the best of america, putting our beloved nation and their fellow americans above themselves and deploying into danger to keep their fellow citizens safe. as i have said, president biden made the courageous and right decision to end america's longest war. those 13 troops died when a bomb went off at the kabul airport in a terrorist attack as u.s. forces worked to evacuate

thousands of americans and afghans during the american withdrawal from afghanistan, one of president biden's first major foreign policy decisions. the biden administration faced criticism for the chaotic withdrawal and there were congressional hearings on what happened. dozens of people are dead after multiple attacks across pakistan's southern province. a spokesperson for a militant group said it had launched attacks around the province. the armies say they have killed 21 militants in response. here is our pakistan correspondent caroline davis. caroline: the largest number of people killed was sunday night when several vehicles were traveling to punjab, pulled over by the militants. according to police officials, these militants asked to check ids of people on board. they then took them off the vehicles and opened fire. we also know of a different incident 500 kilometers away, where according to one hospital

official several bodies were brought into the hospital, including some security personnel. in a different area, we have also heard of bodies being discovered there after a bridge was destroyed. we have heard from a militant group, which released a statement saying they had conducted these attacks across the province. we have also heard from pakistan's military, who have said they responded to those militants, killing 21 in the process. they also say they lost 14 of their own security personnel. it's not entirely clear how many of those 14 overlap with the 39 number we were told earlier today. the army in pakistan have been adamant they intend to bring all those responsible for these incidents to justice. sumi: now to some other headlines from around the world. an american man is dead after an ice cave collapsed in southeast iceland.

the woman he was with was injured and taken to the hospital. they were part of a group of 23 people on an organized tour with a guide. the location is highly popular with tourists. at least 60 people have died after a dam burst in sudan. that number could rise. war-torn sudan has been dealing with torrential rain and floods that have forced tens of thousands from their homes. the dam is the main source of drinking water for the coastal city of port sudan. italian media are reporting that the captain of the super yacht that sank off the coast of sicily last week has been placed under investigation. police are reportedly investigating him for possible charges of manslaughter or negligent shipwreck. the ship sank one week ago in a storm, killing 17 people on board. 15 were rescued. australian employees now have the right to ignore communication from their employees -- from their bosses outside of working hours.

the new law that enshrines the right to disconnect will protect people that refused to monitor or respond to messages from work until they clock back in, unless it would be unreasonable to do so. that is world news america today. you can find more on all the days news on bbc.com/news. plus, to see what we are working on anytime, check us out on your favorite social media site. from all of us in washington, thank you for watching world news america and stay wi announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ amna: good evening. geoff bennett is away. on the news hour tonight, the focus in the way -- in the race for the white house turns to the upcoming presidential debate with donald trump threatening to back out